November 28, 2005
HOWTO: White Elephant Gift Exchange Party Rules Guide
Back by popular demand: this is a guide to conducting a
White Elephant Gift Exchange. It is divided into two parts, for the Host, and
for the Players. A flow chart follows to help document this process:
Host
Step 0: Even before the party, the host should
set expectations that this is a White Elephant Gift Exchange, that
use-challenged gifts should be expected, and to set a boundary for maximum
price.
Step 1: The host should give each guest a random
unique number. The usual pick a number from the bowl should suffice.
Step 2: The host should ensure that all the
presents for this White Elephant Gift Exchange are in one location.
Step 3: The game begins, and the host should call
the numbers sequentially.
Players
Players for this White Elephant Gift Exchange should follow this flow chart:
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8 Comments to “HOWTO: White Elephant Gift Exchange Party Rules Guide”
December 6th, 2005 at 10:27 pm
White elephant gift exchange party rules
HOWTO: White Elephant Gift Exchange Party Rules Guide HOWTO: White Elephant Gift Exchange Party Rules Guide Back by popular demand: this is a guide to conducting a White Elephant Gift Exchange. It is divided into two parts, for the Host,…
October 11th, 2006 at 10:33 pm
I have done white elephant gift exchange before under a different name and the directions here are not that clear and there is a lot of room for error.
December 12th, 2006 at 12:05 pm
These directions DO NOT MAKE SENSE AT ALL. Go back to school buddy.
December 16th, 2006 at 6:13 am
Dennis,
I was looking for rules to use for this years gift exchange party and found your posting to be the most succint, simple, straightforward and easy to understand of all. Thank you! I printed out your flowchart and will hand it out to all our guests.
The only instruction I will add is that if after all gifts have been unwrapped player #1 has not had an oportunity to ’steal’ a gift he or she should get the last turn.
To Mr. or Mrs. ‘What Says’ above I can only say that perhaps they are the one who needs to go back to school if they can’t even understand a simple flowchart!
December 27th, 2006 at 9:24 pm
According to Wikipedia…
“5. After all turns have been taken, the person who has drawn #1 has the option of taking one more turn since they had the disadvantage of not knowing what any of the now-opened presents were in the beginning. However, they may NOT take any dead gifts nor may they steal back any gift that was stolen from them. This gives them the opportunity to steal something they like better but at the same time, places SOME limits on what they can take. If there are no limits to #1 then they might as well sit back, relax, wait ’til everyone else is finished playing and then snatch whatever they want!”
Makes sense to me!
Lyte
November 14th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Great tips, and I agree with the person who quoted from Wikepedia re: #5. Also, we made it clear that gifts should not be all of a true white elephant type (if the gifts are ALL crummy, this won’t go over well at all!), but that we need both kinds - with a dollar limit if someone actually purchases something.
Even when I didn’t buy a new gift I gave away a brand new ice cream freezer that I had bought years ago and never used, and it was a big hit!
November 14th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Ooops, one more thing: I thought the flow chart was great! Wish I’d thought of it.
November 21st, 2007 at 9:35 am
When we play, ALL gifts are either gag gifts, or something you were given as a gift, that you never needed or wanted. Something that doesn’t serve a purpose, is funny, or just doesn’t suite your taste. These gifts are just for fun, thus the “white elephant” connotation.
The term comes from a tradition in old SIAM. The ruler would sometimes give gifts, and it was the largest insult to refuse, or get rid of that gift, it was such an honor that you had to keep it. So, if you were in disfavor, you may be presented with an elephant, usually ritually painted white. You couldn’t use it for work, kill it, sell it, etc., without deeply insulting the ruler, causing grave reprisals. So you were forced to keep and take care for it forever, no matter how much it cost you.
That’s the whole point of this game, to pass around strange, funny, unusual items, just for FUN.
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